Clinton campaign finished February in the red

[NYCGirl]

From Americablog

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/clinton-campaign-finished-february-in.html

-snipped—

Clinton's campaign ended the month with $33.1 million cash on hand. But, that's deceptive. Clinton has been aggressively raising money for the general election, too. As AP notes, $21.7 million is off limits to the primary campaign. That means her cash on hand is really $11.4 million. In addition, the Clinton campaign reports $8.7 million in debt (including $2.5 million to Mark Penn's firm) bringing her number down to $2.7 million if she pays the debts. Subtract the $5 million loan she made to herself and we're talking negative cash balance of -$2.3 million.

On the other hand, Obama had $38.8 million cash on hand at the end of February. Only $7 million is off limits in the primary leaving $31.8 million. The Obama camp had debts of $625,000 and no personal loans to the campaign, meaning he had over $31 million available.

Part of the Clinton strategy of inevitability was built on her fundraising capacity. As superdelegates are looking at electability (the new Clinton standard), they should look at the real story behind the numbers.

Back in the early days of the campaign when Clinton campaigned almost exclusively on her inevitability, she aggressively raised money for the primary and the general election from her large donors, many of whom contributed the maximum $4600 ($2300 for the primary and $2300 for the general). The money from general election contributions cannot be used unless she wins the primary and must be returned to these donors if she doesn't win.

If Hillary is having this much trouble with a budget of $150 million, how will she handle the federal budget?

[K Gardner]

1. Wow.. we're not paying nearly enough attention to things like this. Thanks.

[NYCGirl]

2. The campaign severely underestimated the power of the grassroots for

raising campaign funds. You're welcome.